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Nearly One-Third in Survey Report Deserting News Outlet

. . . “Difficult Year at Best” for African American Media

Film on Latino Immigration Seeking National TV Audience

CNN Criticized for Steubenville Rape Coverage

Philadelphia Magazine Editor Faces Critics at Forum

Some Blacks Make Self-Defense Case for Guns

Columnist Says Fix Is In: Affirmative Action for Whites

Pundits Differ Over Crackdown on Sugary Soft Drinks

Three Hired at CNN

Short Takes

Nearly One-Third in Survey Report Deserting News Outlet

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism Monday documented “a news industry that is more undermanned and unprepared to uncover stories, dig deep into emerging ones or to question information put into its hands.

“And findings from our new public opinion survey released in this report reveal that the public is taking notice. Nearly one-third of the respondents (31%) have deserted a news outlet because it no longer provides the news and information they had grown accustomed to.”

“The State of the News Media 2013 — An Annual Report on American Journalism” continued, “At the same time, newsmakers and others with information they want to put into the public arena have become more adept at using digital technology and social media to do so on their own, without any filter by the traditional media. They are also seeing more success in getting their message into the traditional media narrative.

“So far, this trend has emerged most clearly in the political sphere, particularly with the biggest story of 2012 — the presidential election.

“A Pew Research Center analysis revealed that campaign reporters were acting primarily as megaphones, rather than as investigators, of the assertions put forward by the candidates and other political partisans. That meant more direct relaying of assertions made by the campaigns and less reporting by journalists to interpret and contextualize them. . . .”

The report identified six major trends:

. . . “Difficult Year at Best” for African American Media

“The story about how African American-oriented news media coped last year was a difficult one at best,” Emily Guskin, Amy Mitchell and Mark Jurkowitz reported in a section of “The State of American Media.”

They said in “African American: A Year of Turmoil and Opportunity”:

“In the newspaper sector, many historic African American publications both lost circulation and struggled to find advertising revenue. The Chicago Defender, for example, declined in circulation and laid off two editors because of reduced advertising.

“On television, a platform African Americans turn to for news at even greater rates than Americans over all, news continues to fight for a place in African American programming.

“While several new channels geared toward African Americans emerged in 2012, only one of them planned any news content. Still, BET, the most popular channel geared toward a black audience, gave a news talk show yet another try and TV One, another channel aimed at African Americans, partnered with NBC in coverage of the 2012 presidential election.

“In radio, African American voices became even scarcer in 2012. Black-owned radio stations continued to wither in number and several programs hosted by major African American personalities went off the air. The year also witnessed the consolidation of two of the largest black radio networks,” referring to Radio One, Inc.’s consolidation of its Syndication One Urban programming line-up with Reach Media, Inc.

“As traditional media become more difficult to maintain, the digital world offered some hope. African American-oriented websites continue to develop, and survey data suggest, moreover, that African Americans are more likely than web users over all to access social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook.

“The handful of African American magazines that carry at least some news had different stories to tell in 2012. One of the most popular, Ebony, enjoyed a solid rebound after years of decreasing circulation, but other magazines did not fare nearly as well. . . .”

Film on Latino Immigration Seeking National TV Audience

The makers of “Harvest of Empire: The Untold Story of Latinos in America,” a documentary about the reasons behind Latino immigration to the U.S. mainland, are seeking a television network outlet even as the film wends its way around the country in movie theaters, one of the principals told Journal-isms on Monday.

“We decided to do the theatrical release first to generate buzz,” Wendy Thompson-Marquez, a co-producer of the film, said. “We are currently reaching out to several networks in hopes to get some carriage.”

“Harvest of Empire,” based on a 1999 book by Juan Gonzalez, columnist for the Daily News in New York, co-host of Pacifica Radio’s “Democracy Now!” and founder and past president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, tells the story of migration to the mainland United States from Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Gonzalez serves as the film’s narrator. The documentary makes liberal use of news footage from the past few decades in making the case that U.S. intervention in each jurisdiction created the conditions that caused residents to emigrate.

It is a useful primer, especially for journalists, and such reporters as Maria Hinojosa, Gonzalez and Geraldo Rivera are among the participants.

The movie’s current tour, which began March 1 in Phoenix, opens in San Diego on March 22; in Denver April 6; Chicago, April 19; Houston, May 3; and Philadelphia on a date to date to be determined. It began a run in Washington on Friday, through March 28, and has played in New York; Santa Fe, N.M.; San Francisco; and Berkeley, Calif.

” ‘Harvest of Empire’ has a journalistic pedigree and a punch that comes from political advocacy,” Rachel Saltz wrote last September in the New York Times.

CNN Criticized for Steubenville Rape Coverage

“CNN’s coverage of the verdict in the Steubenville rape case appeared to be curiously weighted on Sunday, focusing on the effect the guilty verdict would have on the lives of the now-convicted rapists and their families, rather than that of the victim and her family,” Kia Makarechi reported for the Huffington Post.

“Steubenville High School football players Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16, were accused of raping a severely intoxicated 16-year-old West Virginia girl who also attends the Ohio school. Thousands of text messages introduced in the case presented a picture of teens swapping graphic stories about the assault.

“In a Sunday afternoon segment, anchor Fredricka Whitfield followed the straight news of the guilty verdict (which she described as rape occurring ‘after a night of heavy partying’) by showing the rapists’ parents’ weeping in court. Footage of Richmond, his mother and father offering emotional appeals to the victim’s family dominated the segment.

“Whitfield threw the story to reporter Poppy Harlow, but not before reiterating that Mays and Richmond’s ‘family members tried their hardest to plead for some forgiveness from the victim’s family, as well as from the judge. . . .’ “

Philadelphia Magazine Editor Faces Critics at Forum

“Philadelphia Magazine editor Tom McGrath and Robert Huber, author of the controversial ‘Being White in Philly’ cover story, faced their critics at a forum Monday night at the National Constitution Center,” Robert Moran reported for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“McGrath opened by saying he was sorry to anybody who was hurt by the article because that was not his intent, but he did not regret publishing the story.

“Huber told the packed auditorium of about 200 that the purpose of the article was to explore ‘how white people relate to black people in the inner city, or don’t relate to them.’

“In his piece, Huber wrote: ‘We need to bridge the conversational divide so that there are no longer two private dialogues in Philadelphia — white people talking to other whites, and black people to blacks — but a city in which it is okay to speak openly about race.”

“The cover story, however, was criticized for dwelling on negative experiences that whites had with blacks that often fit into racial stereotypes.

“In a scathing letter, Mayor [Michael] Nutter last week requested that the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission consider whether the magazine and Huber deserve to be rebuked for the article.

“Nutter said Huber ignored positive anecdotes ‘to feed his own misguided perception’ that African Americans are ‘lazy, shiftless, irresponsible, and largely criminal.’

“McGrath served as a moderator for a panel that included Huber, journalists Solomon Jones and Christopher Norris, People’s Emergency Center president Farah Jimenez, and University of Pennsylvania lecturer Walter Palmer, who teaches about racism and social change.”

The story added, “When Editor Tom McGrath was questioned about his staff’s lack of diversity, he replied: ‘I’m committed to having a more diverse staff’ and ‘I am committed to do something.’ “

Some Blacks Make Self-Defense Case for Guns

“While African-Americans on either side of the debate agree gun violence is a scourge in the inner-city, they disagree on another vital fact: whether gun control hurts more than it helps,” Claire Gordon wrote Monday for HuffPost BlackVoices.

Gordon quoted Yale University sociology professor Elijah Anderson, “These black people living in these hyper-ghettos feel like they’re on their own.” Anderson is author of the classic “Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City” and has spent most of his adult life studying these communities.

” ‘To protect yourself from criminals, to protect your daughter, to protect your son, you have to show this person in no uncertain terms that if the police don’t deal with you, I’ll deal with you. I’ll kick your ass,’ he told The Huffington Post. ‘This is a decent person who goes to church. An old lady who’s 65 years old, who has a gun.’

“For many black gun rights activists, policies that disarm minorities eerily echo old racist claims that blacks were unfit for citizenship. Throughout the country’s history, it’s been harder for minorities to get their hands on firearms. . . .”

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